Climbing Moss

We talk a lot about Korea – Kpop, K-Beauty, Korean Celebrities and now its time for Dramas! In 2025 we watched a lot of shows so here is a run down of what we watched, what we thought and what we would recommend as Spoiler free as best as we can.

Watched Together

Dear X – Drama/Thriller
This drama follows Baek Ah Jin a Sociopath who Manipulates people to get what she wants.

Ash – We have just finished this but I really liked it, it does help that the lead is absolutely stunning. Over all I didn’t dislike the way the story lead and the fact it was unapologetic.
Bob – This was a really well acted drama. I ended up feeling bad for some of the people manipulated by her rather than siding with her. That being said I thought the ending was a little weak.

When Life Gives You Tangerines – Slice of Life Drama
A generational family drama that follows Ae-Sun and Yang Gwan-Shik and all the people around them spanning from 1960’s to 2025.

Ash – It was a slow and deep drama that at times felt long but it never dragged. I rated it 10/10 on Mydramalist which is rare for me. I’m glad I watched it but I don’t need to see it again.
Bob – This was probably one of the best dramas we have ever seen. It at times was sad sometimes happy but it really did leave an impression. Plus this had me sad crying, happy crying and everything in-between which is rare.

S Line – Crime/Mystery
A girl discovers the ability to see Red Lines above peoples heads connecting who they have had sexual relations with.

Ash – The Idea was there but a little vague and nothing really got explained. It could have been more but like a lot of dramas it started strong but lost it.
Bob – This felt like a really long show even though it was only 8 episodes. It just dragged and I kind of lost interest somewhere along the line.

Games Caterers x Stars season 2 – TV Reality
The Second Season with some new Idol Groups and a couple new Actors – Playing games, Challenges etc.

Ash – I really like the idea of this show and the games. With the amount of the cast it is hit or miss who you watch but at least you get to see the personal side of some of the celebrities – which you wouldn’t get in Western TV.
Bob – For season 2 there was a couple of people we didn’t really know yet but it was the same as most of the Games Caterers.

My Youth – Drama
A Child Actor turned Novelist/Florist reconnects with an old friend who is a Team Leader of an Entertainment company and the storyline ensues.
Ash – This show was Calm and Chill. It was a good easy watch without much overthinking.
Bob – Like with most of Chun Woo-Hee’s shows they are a little quirky and deals with some heavier subjects in a light-hearted way plus there are bubbles.

Games Caterers x JYP – Reality
Games, Chaos and Dancing with Sexy Poodle!
Ash – Another series of silly games and interactions this time with a number of Kpop groups that we follow and like. It was good to see them once again interacting with other groups on the same label which you don’t get to see.
Bob – We watched the Hybe Crossover in 2022 and there were rumors that JYP would be next. Finally it came to fruition, it was really good to see some of my favorite groups interacting and playing games.

Head Over Heels – Comedy/Drama
A Girl is a Student by day and Shaman by night – meets a moody boy and vows to get rid of his curse.
Ash – The blurb was correct! She is pretty and looked good as the Shaman and yeah thats it.
Bob – At times silly and a little inconsistent but it was a easy watch.

Twenty-Five Twenty-One – Drama/Coming of Age
Follows a teenage Fencer, her friends and a young man who is an aspiring News Anchor.
Ash – The Blurb had stated it was a time travel story but it was more of a reflection of life rather than anything else. The story that played out ended up being one of my favourite dramas we have ever watched.
Bob – I had heard that this was one of the saddest Dramas of all time which I still don’t see. Was it me or was this a love story between the two lead females?

I’m Not A Robot – Comedy
Woman pretends she’s a robot who belongs to a very annoying immature man.
Ash – Bob wrote that blurb because it wouldn’t be officially written like that but it was the truth. It had moments of being ok.. Soo-bin was pretty but there was so much crap.
Bob – The male lead was so annoying! Plus the illness he had was so inconsistent it became more of a drinking game to see if they remembered what the symptoms were.

Not Others – Comedy/Drama/Crime
Follows a single young mother (Physio) and daughter (Police Officer)who live together.
Ash – We watched this because I like Choi Soo-young and this was the first drama we had seen of her. It was quite a sarcastic kind of comedy which you don’t usually get in dramas these days. Looking forward to season 2.
Bob – I was mostly watching this for Park Sunghoon (the actor not the singer) but it was quite easy to watch, fun without being stupid.

Melo Movie – Melo Drama
A Movie reviewer/obsessor pursues an aspiring Director.
Ash – It was kind of funny and there was a lot of movie references I got. I liked the lead males character progression but the show did sadly hit the doldrums half way through.
Bob – It started good but yes got very slow mid way and never really recovered. I found the lead male annoying but liked his brother.

Earth Arcade Season 3 – Reality
Four girls yell a lot and get drunk/Eat.
Ash – In Jeju we watched this I had no idea what was going on as there was no subtitles, it was just a girl with a chicken hat/head on playing Cham Cham Cham with Kazoos in their mouths. We found it online but it still isn’t any clearer.
Bob – We saw this on Holiday so picked up where we left of trying to work out what an earth the game was and why. It was easy enough, funny but very loud.

Nana bnb with Seventeen – Reality
Seventeen and PD Na go on holiday within Korea.
Ash – This was more of a traditional Korean foodie show but I don’t overly remember it.
Bob – Not as good as the Nana tour but it was fun, easy and silly. There was an awful lot of food but thats to be expected. Sadly it lacked Jeonghan as he had already enlisted.

Strong Girl Namsoon – Comedy/Romance
The Sequel to Bong-soon – follows a girl with supernatural strength.
Ash – This sadly was not as good as the first one – it was wayyyy sillier and I honestly didn’t really care what happened to anyone without the secondary females.
Bob – I got bored fairly quickly but stayed because of Byeon Woo-seok.

Light Shop – Horror/Thriller
A dark alley that strange things happen in and a light bulb shop that saves people.
Ash – It again had potential but it was just soooo slooooowww. Even though it was a small amount of episodes each one felt like it had been going on years.
Bob – Some of the episodes were creepy but overall I didn’t really care and found my brain wandering off.

Squid Game Season 2 – Thriller
Different games, different cast but same brutal plot.
Ash – This took a little while to get going and then once you had got invested in people it ended on a cliff hanger for 6months!
Bob – Some new characters both good and bad and some of the games were pretty good but it did take too long for season 3 to come out.

Squid Game Season 3 – Thriller
The last of Squid Games with games and violence.
Ash – After a long wait and some very odd length episodes. The actual show was as screwed up as ever.
Bob – Some absolutely stupid deaths that didn’t need to happen but anyway… Also I really don’t like the need to add an American spin off to any good Korean/Japanese drama.

Gangnam B-Side – Crime/Drama
Crime happens, Police and others search for answers.
Ash – We were watching this because of Bibi. It was pretty good but I didn’t follow some of the plot as the subtitles were very very fast. I was invested in some of the characters.
Bob – Crime happens and Bibi looked very pretty.

A Virtuous Business – History/Drama
Follows a woman who starts a Sex Toy/Lingerie Shop in a uptight village.
Ash – The first episode was exactly as described then a lot of filler happens until the end. I did however like Kim Sung-ryung’s character more than anything else.
Bob – I was looking forward to a more raunchy show but it toned all the way down after the first episode.

My Dearest Nemesis – Comedy/Drama
Follows a by the books kind of girl and her Efficient boss who is hiding his true self.
Ash – There was only one ‘English’ rock band which was his big secret and a room that was pretty cool! Overall the show didn’t do what you normally would have been able to predict.
Bob – It was a fun and easy watch – the music was a bit repetitive which was a bit strange.

Rented In Finland
Four somewhat incompetent men go to Finland and attempt to be self sufficient.
Ash – One word – Salt. This was one of those shows I felt embarrassed to be the same gender as these idiots.
Bob – I really liked Cha Eunwoo and still kind of do despite this show. It was nice to see them hang out with animals but my god these men cannot be self sufficient – it became more of a drinking game of how badly they can look after themselves.

Friendly Rivalry
Hyeri Kisses a girl and Ash liked it. A new girl in School, is taken under the wing of the popular girl and starts to fantasize about her.
Ash – I really liked this show and because of it Hyeri ended up going up in my top 100 last year. I am really eager for season 2!
Bob – Don’t get me wrong there was nothing wrong with this show. The girls were pretty the plot was there its just something about it is instantly forgettable to me.

The 8 Show
A game show that goes awry 8 contestants live on 8 floors granting them privileges or punishments.
Ash – This was marketed as an alternative to Squid Games which it wasn’t just fyi. I really liked number 8’s character and didn’t end up getting annoyed as most people did.
Bob – This was a strange show, with a lot of characters who immediately get on your nerves! Not 8 or 2 but everyone else.

Lovely Runner
A girl discovers the ability to travel through time to save the man she loves.
Ash – I don’t know what to say about this… I got bored and I will not ever understand what anyone is seeing in the male lead.
Bob – I really liked this drama – It could be that I like Byeon Woo-seok sure, but it was a sweet/cute show. There was a couple of episodes mid way through the season that dragged a little but it wasn’t as bad as some.

Family By Choice
Two men raise three children who aren’t related.
Ash – The family dynamic was interesting, very different than most. I liked the two Dads co-parenting, the Mothers though were a different matter.
Bob – Oh there was some annoying female characters in this show! Other than that I really enjoyed it. Easy going, good cast and didn’t have any lulls.

Earth Arcade Vroom Vroom
Same four girls screaming – this time we gave up.
Ash – Having watched the first couple of seasons we tried again. We suffered it for 4 episodes and then realized they were annoying. I like Mimi but not that much.
Bob – Ok the first season was fun the second was ok but the third this was not good. They just repeated the same games but in a different country where there was food and not a lot else.

Castaway Diva
A girl gets shipwrecked on an island forcing her to survive alone but never giving up on her Idol Dreams.
Ash – I think this was wrongly named, it seemed like they joined two shows together. Started with Castaway and then moved on to Idol/Diva it seemed like two vastly different stories shoved together which detracted.
Bob – Started strong, got a bit dull/slow mid way and then ended ok.

Hospital Playlist Season 2
Follows a bunch of doctors and their patients, families and the band they preform in.
Ash – This continued from season 1 without much changing. The whole show in itself was good plus we saw Rosa sing.
Bob – I liked that season 2 didn’t try to be anything more than season 1 as it was already pretty good.

Mr. Plankton
A Man discovers he only has months to live and accidentally reunites with an ex girlfriend who he decides to spend his last time with.
Ash – It was good, I can’t really stand Oh Jung-se he just seems to aggravate me. In this he was just stupid.
Bob – I know we knew what the end was at the beginning but I was still surprised which in a way is good but also kinda sad.

Dropped

Spirit Fingers
A Young Girl discovers a drawing group that helps bring her out of her shell.
Ash – This was quirky and fun to start with and then the second episode went into a meh. The Colours were inconsistent.
Bob – This had the potential to be good but then the male lead was introduced – who was creepy, stalker and a freak.

The Midnight Studio
A Studio appears at night to reunite recently departed with a person they want to say goodbye to.
Ash – One of the first things you learn as a photographer is check what the background is, this guy was abysmal at taking any kind of photos. The premise didn’t even make sense.
Bob – What was with the backdrop of all the photos?

Love In the Big City
TV Spin off of the film with the same name LGBTQIA.
Ash – Splendid is not the word to describe this show yet it was the word most uttered. It was highly forgettable.
Bob – We had seen the movie and liked it, so we thought the show would carry on in the same way – we were wrong. We barely lasted one episode.

Branding in Seongsu
A Female and her Male Colleague switch bodies plus bunnies.
Ash – It started off like a lot of dramas episode one was about one thing and then it changed at episode 3 to a completely different topic. It became silly, inconsistent and meh.
Bob – This show had the potential to be good, similar to Freaky Friday but with opposite genders. Sadly it lacked, the leads didn’t have any chemistry and it mostly was just waffle.

Genie, Make a Wish
A Sociopath finds a Genie Lamp.
Ash – This was boring, I fell asleep during two of the four episodes we watched.
Bob – Another show where I wanted to like it but found it really dull and the leads didn’t seem to even like each other.

Good Boy
Multiple Ex-Olympians are part of a Police force.
Ash – I really hate boxing which is a big issue as the lead character is a boxer, I found it really cringy.
Bob – There was nothing really wrong with this so I might go back to it at some point but not sure.

The Nice Guy
A Son of a Gang Boss wants to get out of the life he has been roped into.
Ash – Lee Dongwook was never going to progress in this show, it was just a bunch of empty threats.
Bob – To be honest I didn’t care about anything. I like Lee Dongwook but the show wasn’t doing anything or progressing.

Newtopia
A Zombie outbreak but more comedy that horror.
Ash – It started off ok but got stupid very quickly.
Bob – Too stupid to continue to be honest we were only watching it because of Jisoo.

The Judge From Hell
A Demon becomes a Judge in the mortal world to punish their wrong doings.
Ash – The best thing about this show was the coke can trick the rest was boring.
Bob – I like the cast but it didn’t really do anything storyline wise.

Cinderella at 2AM
A Professional woman who is very practical in a relationship with an overly romantic younger man.
Ash – Struggling to remember this but I remember I was more invested in the secondary leads that the first. However it just fizzled.
Bob – The cast was good but it became a bit too stupid plus there didn’t seem to be any chemistry at all.

Doctor Slump
A doctor quits and moves back home with her family where she meets an old friend.
Ash – This got boring very quickly, so much so we dropped it.
Bob – I was looking forward to this because of the cast but honestly it was so dull! We gave up around the 4th episode.

Other Non Drama Shows

Leniverse
Le Sserafim does stuff
Ash – Randomness and silly games, there seems to be more content than some and you do get to see their. personalities and how it changes when paired up differently.
Bob – One of the best girl group’s shows where they actually do stuff!

SKZ Code
Stray Kids does stuff really quickly whilst all talking at the same time.
Ash – I wrote the blurb, I cannot follow most of what goes on because its too fast the subtitles are all over the place and I am a slow reader.
Bob – Obviously I’m Biased but I love Skz Code. Apart from when they do the random roleplaying that is.

En O’clock
Enhypen does stuff
Ash – Erm its a bit hit or miss, good when its good but sometimes very meh. I still struggle to identify the members even though we have been watching it for 3 years.
Bob – Again Biased but I do really like En-O’clock.

Kiiras
Kirras does stuff – usually in small subunits or alone
Ash – A new one for us but they seem to only do things in subunits or small groups but the content seems more .
Bob – This is fairly new I don’t really know them, so we are still seeing how it goes.

Kick Flip
Kickflip does stuff
Ash – This is very new and I’m not sure yet as it takes me a long time to learn people.
Bob – Not too bad but a bit inconsistent in content.

Qwer
Qwer does stuff and are just bonkers!
Ash – I wanted to watch this as I wanted to like them last year but struggled with their early sound. Now they have settled into a genre they have got my attention. They are completely nuts like Chuu on Steroid’s.
Bob – Only really seen a couple of episodes so its pretty new, the content is strange some are only 7 minutes some are 48 minutes.

ZeroBaseOne
ZB1 does stuff
Ash – Again New – There is a lot of them and a lot of them seem to be very camp.
Bob – I really enjoy this! Theres such a mix of personalities and they seem less concerned about their image which is fun.

Viviz
Viviz does stuff with a tiny crew and usually at 6am
Ash – This seems like a really small low budget attempt to make a youtube channel – their content is very basic and they eat a lot.
Bob – The trip shows are better than the show show. It seems to mostly be about food though.

Itzy
Itzy eats a lot and talks about eating.
Ash – We don’t watch a lot of Itzy anymore because of the sheer amount of food. The vlogs are much better.
Bob – Only really food or talking about food, thinking about food, cooking food, winning games for food.

Seventeen
Seventeen does stuff whilst they drink.
Ash – The members do drink a lot. They do make food but not really eat it, gets drunk and shouts SALUTé
Bob – A lot of chaos, but it is really funny.

Aespa
Aespa does stuff while Giselle takes selfies
Ash – These are my Ult (Current) Bias just look at the Top 100 females. So I really like the stuff they do. They only really do shows every now and then most of the content is vlogging.
Bob – I’m still not convinced by this group but I’ll watch it for NingNing.

Bob Alone

Last Summer
A girl lives in small town when a boy from her past shows up and makes her reset her life.
Bob – I really wanted to love this show and don’t get me wrong it wasn’t bad it was just a little inconsistent. The story was too vague for the beginning and didn’t clear anything up until towards the end. Plus the leads didn’t seem to have much chemistry, that being said it was ok.

Study Group
Similar to Weak Hero Class but with superpowers I guess..
Bob – For me Study group was a lot like Weak Hero but lacking. I’m not sure what it was lacking but I guess it was just too close.

Dear Hongrang
Period Drama following a Girl who searches for her lost brother ends up finding a man who makes her very confused and that said Man who seeks revenge.
Bob – I really loved the cast of this! The plot was engaging, the story never lulled, I could have easily binged this in one sitting. Yes it was serious, yes it was at times sad but it kept me hooked all the way through. Plus the cinematography was beautiful.

To All the Guys Who Loved Me
A woman who vows she will never get married ends up finding a man who remembers their previous life together.
Bob – I really didn’t like the lead male in this show, I found him at times really creepy which made it hard to root for anything that he did. It was ok.. I guess.

Pump Up the Healthy Love
A woman who has low self esteem finds a man who teaches her how to get fitter, lift heavy and love yourself.
Bob – Ok here is where our opinions differed – Ash watched one episode and hated it. I kept on and really liked it! Yes it had some cringy moments and the comedy at times was a little too silly but it was balanced out with some heavier issues. Plus as a Gym Bunny myself I really liked it.

Dreaming Of a Freaking Fairytale
A comedy where a girl finds her prince charming.
Bob – Sometimes cringy, sometimes sappy but it wasn’t bad its just not good either.

Cringy Romance
Follows 4 boys as they seek to loose their virginity.
Bob – Meh – It was the typical American Pie type idea but with a Korean Spin at the end of the day most of them annoyed the hell out of me.

Weak Hero Class 2
Follows Yoon Sieun dealing with the aftermath of season 1 – in a new school with new crime/bullies and a whole myriad of problems.
Bob – Weak Hero is one of those shows that grab me and I want to binge it all in one sitting. This season was no different.

Record Of Youth
Follows three young professionals and their intertwining lives.
Bob – There is a theme of last year which happens to be Byeon Woo-seok which was why I was watching this. To be honest it was ok nothing overly wow.

Flower Crew – Joseon Marriage Agency
A young woman works with 3 men who run a marriage agency in the Joseon time pieriod.
Bob – A really good cast for me – I had this bookmarked for a really long time so finally got round to it. There was a little bit of a drag through the second half but overall it was pretty good. Nothing too serious, just lighthearted fluff.

Tarot
A seven episode show following different horror themes based on the tarot deck.
Bob – I watched this whole show for one actor (Seo Ji-hoon) but my god it was boring! The stories had nothing to do with Tarot in my opinion.

18 Again
A Korean remake of the American movie of the same name. A man suddenly turns into the teenage version of himself so he can have another shot at life.
Bob – This was easy to watch. A little more family orientated than the American version which was quite a nice twist.

Ash Alone

Knowing Brothers

A variety show
Ash – I only really watch episodes where I know the guests. There are other guests that end up being interesting – how I discovered Oh My Girl and ZeroBaseOne. Some of the games are ridiculously fun and fast. I would recommend it.

I mostly watch Youtube which will be a different post.